


four things

by kunnskat



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, OC UnSub - Freeform, Readable for Free on AO3
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-09-30 21:51:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20454107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kunnskat/pseuds/kunnskat
Summary: Worst case scenario and Garcia wants her team safe.





	1. Garcia

**Author's Note:**

> It's my birthday so obviously I should start posting a whole new fic. Which will be 7 or 8 drabbles, very very short ones!

This is how she thinks their cases start, sometimes.

An UnSub. Plausible victim. Maybe victims. A setting that gives the UnSub a chance to do what they want, might be what they think they even need, or just a chance they can’t pass up. A reason, the setting is always why they do it. They need it to make it make sense to them.

Understanding them is what makes her good at her job but sometimes she doesn’t want to be.

She is pretty sure she won't make it out of this alive.

She'd figured from the very moment the ping had sounded on her phone, alerting her that the worst case scenario is about to happen.

The first thing she does is not acknowledge her likely imminent death, but to send out emergency messages for several places. The second thing she does is send all of the people within those places a timed message she'd kept ready for moments like these. They won’t see them for a while, not until they’re back in the office and connected to the workplace internet.

The third thing she does is start up the program that, as far as everyone else knew, had before only been hypothetical.

The fourth thing she does is regret that she won't make it to that documentary. It would have been enjoyable.

And that's as far as Penelope Garcia gets before her door creaks open.


	2. Hotch

Aaron Hotchner is a father before he is anything else.

Even when he’s off working, when he’s hunting an UnSub with his team, he is still a father. He still has a son waiting for him at home, a child that he is responsible for. Sometimes that means he’s more vulnerable to some of the cases they get and sometimes it means he’s more determined to solve them. 

What it always means is that he can go home, he can hug his son and tell him he loves him and when he puts him to bed and maybe reads him a story, he’s here with his son both physically and mentally. 

His son comes first. 

Especially given that Haley rarely lets him see him. 

When the officers come knocking on his door, he’s calling her while getting Jack because even though it’s supposed to be his time with him, Jack would be safer with Haley right now. Or maybe Haley would be safer with them and that’s the real reason he’s calling and asking her to meet them, but she won’t need to know that until the officers talk to her.


	3. JJ

“I love you,” she says, the brightest smile on her face at coming home to dinner. It’s not perfect, except it is. 

She’s a worker, and so is he, so even given their situation, this is rare. 

Dinner, dessert, sitting together on the couch and watching a good movie, cuddling and popcorn with whatever weird things she wants. 

There is very little in life that gives so much happiness like that of being a parent-to-be. She can't think of anything like it, though being surrounded by her friends is a top five, and she has already had time to get used to the idea. It's really showing now, and while she could feel it early on with the various parts that come with pregnancy, this moment is special.   


And so, Jennifer Jareau is kissing William after the rush of feeling their baby kick in her stomach when they hear someone at the door. Will opens it to show two police officers with grim mines, and the euphoria has been switched out with terror.   


She feels herself relax a little when there's no words of condolences, just a request that they come with them to somewhere safer for them to speak. The fear is still there, but she feels like she can breathe and move, and put on her jacket and shoes, and then they're leaving, hidden in the darkness of the approaching night.   



	4. Morgan

Volunteering is a part of his life when he can make time for it, every bit counts. The places he volunteers at are always grateful for one more set of hands, some of them save the heavy work for when he can come help. 

He doesn’t mind, it’s what he’s there for. 

It leaves him in a good mood, if regretful that so many need the help. But he can’t fix everything for all of them and it’s better to do what you can for those you can, he doesn’t need that lecture anymore. 

Two police officers are waiting for him when he comes home, knocking at his door, and his strides lengthen as he nears them, cautious as to why they're there. He knows he would have been called if it was work, knows his team would call him if something happened to any one of them, knows his family would alert him if something has happened at home-    


Derek Morgan knows that there are very few reasons for police offers to wait for him outside his home.   


“Derek Morgan?” he nods and they continue, “Sir, if you'd please come with us--” there is a caution in their frames but they aren't acting like they're there to arrest him or the likes, and it clicks in his head that they must be there to protect him, though he doesn't know why.    


“Is there anything I need to know or bring before I do?”


	5. Rossi

His days are quiet until he goes into work. Before they'd been quiet all the time. Before he returned to work, of course, not before when he was married. Those times weren't quiet at home more than every now and then. 

Some days it's not quiet even outside of work, but that's still a little recent. 

David Rossi has a team, now. They're not the same, and they're not as good, as before. But maybe they're better in their own way. They're always waiting for that phone call that will put them all in the same room, on the same plane, at the same place, but sometimes it's not needed to gather them together, and a part of him appreciates knowing that they're always watching out for each other, all of them. 

They’re important to him and he worries when police officers come knocking on his door. 

Rossi brings up his phone to try reaching Garcia when they tell him they'd gotten a message on the computer of their Chief with names and locations of Federal Agents in need, asking if her name had been on the list as he hits call. 

It wasn't. 


	6. Reid

Spencer Reid is watching the beginning of a documentary on the creation of 'Doctor Who' and checking the clock every few minutes.   


He was supposed to get company for this, and she'd never have forgotten, so the only thing he can think is that something came up, but she would have called or texted and she has done neither so far.   


There's a knock on his door and it must be her, but when he opens it, there's no friend in sight, just two police officers, and he can feel his stomach lurch in worry that something has happened. The puzzling moment comes when they ask if everything is alright and if there's anyone in there with him, and he has to tell them that yes, everything is fine, and no, not yet, though he's got a friend that is supposed to show any minute now.   


Footsteps coming from his living room betrays his words and with tense shoulders and empty hands, he lets himself get pushed behind the officers while they ask him if he's sure about that.   


He's sure.


	7. Prentiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check my profile for a link to my discord-server if you wanna be in a server where people rarely talk but I still share all the prompts I come up with before I put them on my tumblr (write-yourself-a-river).

She's still at the office when a message comes through. A beep alerts her and when she checks it, the message is strange. Coded, which coming from Garcia is unexpected despite the knowledge that the woman can do it if she wants to. Emily gets up from her desk to go see if Garcia is still in the office, maybe she can get the answer to the riddle before it's time to go home. Maybe a new case just came up. 

Emily Prentiss is a hard worker, it's not unusual to find her at work late. 

Garcia isn't in her lair, but she also hadn't let Emily know she'd be going home like she usually does. And wasn't she supposed to meet up with Spencer, anyway? 

The first call goes unanswered, the second doesn't. 

"Hey, is Garcia there? I got a weird text from her."

"No, she never showed," her teammate tells her, she can practically hear the frown on his face. "Could you meet me at the Police station? Someone broke into my place after the police came to see me- oh, that's Morgan but what's he doing here?"

Emily is already grabbing her jacket, "-yeah, I'll be there soon. Did you call anyone else?"

"Not yet, I thought I'd see what the police knows, they're acting strange. I'm going to try calling Garcia again, first."

"Alright. I'll see you soon," hanging up and getting into the elevator, Emily tries calling Hotch next. 

"Hotchner," she hears and knows he hadn't checked caller ID. 

"Hey, Hotch, have you heard from Garcia?"


End file.
